So that is it for this year’s very first Festival of Comedy at the Waterloo East Theatre. What a glorious way to return to theatre. Such fun to hear the laughter and applause that greeted the choice clips in my three stand-up comedy historian shows: Oh, What a Carry On!, Forgotten Heroes of Comedy and yet another slab of Forgotten Heroes, this time with a comedy horror theme. It was also a joy to present a rehearsed reading of a brand new, hour-long festival-friendly version of Jeepers Creepers – Through the Eyes of Marty Feldman. Jessica Martin and Nick Revell starred as Lauretta and Marty Feldman. The Festival also saw the world stage premiere of Screaming Queens!, starring Steve Nallon as Kenneth Williams and Jessica Martin as Fenella Fielding. Here’s to the next time…
Book Cover Reveal
Hello Chums,
I’m thrilled to be sharing with you, the book cover for Forgotten Heroes of Comedy. Designed by Dan Mogford. It’s evocative, clever and just perfect! You can still pre-order the book before its publication in September 2021. Click here to learn more.
Much love, Robert xx
COR! Magazine
December News
This month Robert has articles in three best-selling nostalgia magazines. He’s back in Best of British, with a festive look at the Christmas comedy special, from The Goon Show to Gavin & Stacey. In the first of an occasional series of Past Masters of Comedy for Infinity magazine, Robert profiles that pantomime dame extraordinaire Arthur Askey. It’s in issue 31, which also includes our good friend Mick Clews’ salute to Phil Silvers. Finally, in Yours Retro issue 32, Robert reveals the amazing facts of when Elton John met Elvis Presley! All are on sale at newsagents now.
And talking of magazines, we are chuffed to have brought back an old favourite. Cor! was Robert’s fanzine from when he was a baby comedy historian! Dormant for twenty-two years, it’s now resurrected as an on-line publication. The all-new issue one includes The Goodies at Christmas, a centenary tribute to Carry On director Gerald Thomas, and a brand new and exclusive interview with Barry Cryer, including his 2020 message for the nation! Cor! is priced at just £2.50, and you can pick up your copy by clicking this link
You can buy Robert’s books and plays on our Facebook Page – they make the perfect Christmas stocking filler.
Robert and Gemma will be hosting a Christmas Comedy chat on Tuesday, 22nd December over on Robert’s Facebook Page. Have your questions ready for when we go live & lively, from 7pm.
Please make sure you subscribe to Robert’s monthly newsletter by adding your details to this website for all the latest updates.
3rd March 2019
Well, 2019 is already whizzing by. The Bristol Slapstick Festival – my favourite of the year – has been and gone, and what a joy: Richard Herring, The Goodies, Little & Large, Tony Slattery. Heroes all.
The year looks set to include at least two working cruises round the mediterranean, a whole loads of live shows (see Tour Dates for full details), exciting film and telly developments and, finally, the long-awaited handing-over of the Forgotten Heroes of Comedy book manuscript. Prepare the printing presses!
And watch this space. You’ll hear it all here first.
TTFN
12th August 2018
Well, hopefully the twitter feed that racks up alongside this website diary has filled in all the gaps over the last six months.
What larks!
And here we all, about to perform Tony Slattery’s Crimes Against Improv. at the Museum of Comedy, Bloomsbury. It’s the last show before we head off to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Tuesday. From Wednesday, 15th to Sunday, 26th, Tony and I will be in informal conversation for Slattery Will Get You Nowhere, a candid meander through his life and work, at the Stand’s New Town Theatre, Lower Hall. And there’ll be a little improv. too. All the details can be found in the Tour Dates section.
See you up there!
9th February 2018
For the fourth year on the trot, I’m again guest host at the Renown Festival of Film, at the Watersmeet, Rickmansworth, on this Sunday, 11th February, from 9am. I’m delighted to be chatting on stage with old friends and heroes: Shirley Anne Field, Brian Murphy, Linda Regan, Derren Nesbitt, June Cunningham, and special guest star Rita Tushingham. The event is completely sold out, but try ringing 01923 290555, or logging onto www.renownfilms.co.uk for returns. Good luck, and see you at the pictures!
22nd January 2018
The happiest of festivals, the Bristol Slapstick, kicks off with Lucy Porter celebrating the Talmadge Sisters from 11am this Thursday, 25th. Festival director Chris Daniels has pulled together an incredible programme of events: Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie are reunited to salute the greatest of them all, Buster Keaton; while Jo Brand presents her top comedy clips, Rowland Rivron remembers his cult days with Raw Sex, and Ade Edmondson and Nigel Planer introduce a screening of Comic Strip Presents classic Bad News. And this year the very laudable Young Slapstick strand is initiated, including a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s The Adventurer, and in foyer Punch & Judy from Professor Patel. Wondrous.
I’m in attendance from the Friday night gala, and will be in conversation about the Two Ronnies with Barry Cryer at the Bristol Old Vic, from 11:15am on Saturday, 27th. Later that evening I’m hosting Jason Donovan and The Rocky Horror Picture Show from 9:15pm, at the Colston Hall. Then on Sunday morning, it’s bright and early for me and Bill Oddie when we discuss the diverse and beguiling musical legacy of The Goodies. That informal chat is from 9:30am at the Watershed. See you there! www.slapstick.org.uk
17th January, 2017
Please forgive the long radio silence. Happy, frantically busy times. Anyway, a very happy two thousand and eighteen! There are so many exciting projects coming up, from various sixty years of Carry On celebrations to work finally coming to a conclusion on my labour of love book The Forgotten Heroes of Comedy. Keep checking in for updates.
In the meantime, a few dates for your diaries for the next few weeks:
I’ll be appearing at the Bristol Slapstick Festival, from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th January. www.slapstick.org.uk
On Sunday 11th February, I’ll be hosting great swathes of the Renown Films day in association with Talking Pictures TV. www.renownfilms.co.uk
Then on Saturday, 17th February I’ll be discussing the Carry On films at the Leicester Comedy Festival www.comedy-festival.co.uk; and on Friday, 23rd February I’m marking the centenary of the unique and brilliant Spike Milligan, at the Concert Artistes’ Association, 20 Bedford Street www.thecaa.org
See you there!
26th August 2017
It’s the last weekend of the 70th. Edinburgh Fringe Festival and I can’t remember enjoying one more – and I’ve seen a few! Comedy delights included Jamie Wood’s beautifully calm and poignantly surreal reflection I Am A Tree, Tom Binns back with Hospital Radio D.J. Ivan Brackenbury and a gallery of characters for the 11th. year, and, of course, the reunion show of Whose Line Is It Anyway? chaired, as always, by the unflappable Clive Anderson. Kirsty Newton kept everything ticking over at the keyboard, while veteran players Steve Frost, Colin Mochrie, Mike McShane and, be still my beating heart, the elusively brilliant Tony Slattery, were memorably back in harness. Slattery has been a comedy hero of mine for thirty years, so when he ambled out on to that stage it was quite the thrill. Believe me! Still, the absolute highlights away from comedy were the celebration of the female voice and female image that were encapsulated in Patti Plinko’s incredibly diverse and evocative set of songs, and Rebecca Vaughan’s presentation of The Time Machine by the always theatrically exhilarating Dyad Productions. Prescient and powerful. Here’s to the next time…